Promises
by Toboe LoneWolf
Summary: No matter what it takes, Tenten keeps her promises. -Collection of Tenten one-shots- 5: Lady In Red - Tenten wears white as a warning.
1. Promises

_Summary:_ Tenten gets back up because she says she will.

_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own _Naruto_.

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**Promises**

She is, in essence, their willing punching bag. Not that her training obsessed teammates would ever admit to such a job-description; Lee would rather put it as "our beautiful comrade in Youthful Activity" and Neji considers her to be "my sparring partner," but in the times when Tenten is face-flat in mud as Lee continues onward in the two hundred seventy-fifth lap of three hundred around Konoha or Neji has just flung her into yet another tree after a successful Kaiten-test, she thinks that this is all she amounts to.

It's a momentary lapse in thinking however, and Tenten forces herself to get up and collect herself; to make a cursory wipe off the mud and pick up her scrolls again. It's an almost thankless task, but she does it for her boys. And sometimes, it's almost enough when Lee spins around in horror as he notices Tenten is no longer alongside him or when Neji curtly folds his arms and demands that she takes a break.

Almost-- what pushes her past the edge of "I dunwannaanymore" is that she made a friggin' _promise_, dammit, and if there's one thing for sure, Tenten keeps her promises.


	2. Weapon of Last Resort

_Summary:_ For all of its greatness, Tenten knows that it is the weapon of last resort.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf makes no claims on having any sort of ownership of _Naruto._ A fake wooden sword bought from Chinatown, however :P

_A/N:_ Inspired by a lot of recent playing of _Soul Calibur 2_ and _tealeavesgreen_'s fic "The Walking Dead." Also, there's a background article that may be interesting to read after reading this fic it's linked in my livejournal (entry 8-31-09).

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**  
Weapon of Last Resort**

When Tenten is asked the broad question of "which weapon is best" or "what's your favorite weapon", she will promptly go into a long diatribe of how that is completely _impossible_ to conclude, and how each and every weapon she wields has its pros and cons. If not stopped, she'll go on to list said pros and cons, going systematically through each category of her armory, until she runs out of time (and in all likelihood, she would only have gotten through a fifth of her expertise) or the poor questioner makes an excuse and leaves.

The questioner's mind, if he or she was actually paying attention, will be so utterly stuffed with the gamut of weaponry this deceptively simple girl uses that they usually do not notice that she had not said anything on swords.

However, in the case that the questioner does notice, or if the questioner has a particular interest in swords (which is unsurprisingly not that uncommon), Tenten will happily go into _another_ long lecture on different sword types and common misconceptions, until the questioner inevitably concludes that this girl is a complete weapons otaku, and she is perhaps somewhat insane about it.

Very, very few people notice the slight initial pause Tenten will make at the question, "which sword is the best?"

Of those few, most consider it to be a deep breath or just a moment to collect her thoughts. Only her teammates know that it is, in fact, a pause of regret.

When they had asked her why, she had paused yet again. They had completed yet another mission, with Tenten wielding a lead-weighted glaive. Lee had innocently wondered why she had chosen such a weapon for guard duty, when all of the other guards in the caravan were carrying katanas which was, after all, the custom.

"Do you have some sort of dislike for the sword, Tenten-san?"

Tenten opened her mouth to automatically retort _Of course not_, when she saw that Neji had actually turned to face her, rather than quietly listen at the side of the fire. His gaze told her that he knew that there was something going on here, even if she wouldn't say so. When her eyes retreated to look back at Lee, she could see that Lee's question had contained genuine worry as well as his constant seriousness.

Instead Tenten smoothed her hands over the shaft of her _naginata,_ not meeting her teammate's eyes. Finally she sighed, and stated,

"The sword is the weapon of last resort."

She said this with such finality that her teammates were visibly taken aback.

"The sword requires a great deal of training and learning to use effectively," Tenten said, slowly, with the sureness that came from long hours of practice. "They are neither cheap nor easy to make, and in the past they have been reserved for the elite or the upper-class, either to give them even more prestige or due to the large amount of investment required for swordsmanship expertise. It is a very personal weapon, and over time, the sword has been given such high reverence and importance that people have forgotten its limitations.

"Of course, the sword is deadly effective. It is, after all, a tool that has been designed specifically to kill, unlike most others which have their origins in other uses, such as hunting or gathering wheat or cutting wood. The sword is the definitive weapon for close-combat due to its versatility and effectiveness.

"But while a sword may be an individual's primary weapon, the sword has _never_ been the weapon of choice for warfare."

Tenten said the last statement with an odd sort of harshness. "On the battlefield, the sword is drawn at the last moment, when your opponent has closed in. It is when you have no other option -- when you have lost your bow and your spear -- that you will draw your sword.

"It is with the sword that you make your final stand. It is your last defense."

Tenten stared at the fire, watching it crackle and pop. "When I am required to draw a sword," she said quietly, "it is an admittance that I have failed."


	3. By These Hands

_Summary:_ Blow for blow, strike for strike – Tenten is the killer of her team.  
_Disclaimer:_ I make no claim on owning the mega-money-maker that is _Naruto,_ alas.

_A/N:_ Inspired by a quote from _Exile's Honor_ by Mercedes Lackey. There's also a fanart that tangentially goes with this, by the same title as this piece, in my deviantart. Strange, these vignettes are getting darker and darker…

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**By These Hands**

When it comes down to it, Tenten is the killer of her team.

Blow for blow, her strikes leave more dead and dying behind than either of her teammates.

While Lee may take down far more enemies than her, his hands do not carry the same sort of lethality that hers does.

That is the nature of a weapon, after all.

Technically, Neji's _jyuuken_ is more deadly, but even with the _hakke kuushou_ his range is extremely limited. Tenten's range extends to the range of her bow – 70 meters. Actually, her range could be much farther – the bow weight allows for it – but for the assurance of a clean, quick kill she makes her assassin shots at seventy meters or less.

But her lethal range is still a hell of a lot greater than most other shinobi.

She is the first one to have killed on her team. It wasn't clean, or fast, or elegant at all – she used fifteen kunai to kill the man coming at her, and in her terror two of them missed, much to her shame in recollection – but she was the first one from Team Gai to tremble over a body while Gai-sensei clasped their shoulder and said,

_"You are a shinobi. Some must _be_ shinobi, so that others may live in peace."_

That she, the physically weakest, is the most lethal of her team does not escape her irony.

It does not escape her teammates' irony either, and so they increase their efforts to decimate their opponents before she can, so that she does not have to leave so many dead as they. So that, while nearly all of her victims are slashed open and dying, at least she did not kill as many as she could have.

Because of the three of them, it is Tenten who is most at risk for going quite mad.

It's what happens when you are consistently covered in another one's guts. At least Neji's kills are cleaner.

**- x x x x x -**

She stands in the training grounds, honing her accuracy – she is making a cut-out of the Hokage mountain, complete with shading and texture as she varies her choices between kunai, shuriken and senbon needles, and how far she embeds the points – when Gai-sensei comes out to observe her.

"You are enjoying yourself."

She makes a wry smile – the weapon-mosaic of the Hokage mountain might _just_ have given things away. Tenten lets fly a senbon, finishing the eye of the Yondaime. "I'm good at it."

Gai-sensei nods, slowly, and when Tenten turns to face him, beaming as she has completed a small art wonder of weapon-sculpture, she sees that this is one of those times when her sensei is being very serious.

She recalls that just yesterday she had killed seven people in their last B-ranked mission.

_Oh._

That was why today, instead of practicing on proper targets, she was juvenilely playing "color-by-weapon" on a fallen tree.

"I— I _like_ being good at it," she says defensively for some reason. It is not her _fault_ that she is good at what she does, that she likes the feel of her hand clasping the hilt of a new blade and the _knowing_ that she has hit her target perfectly again. She's _good_ at it, and she likes being good at something, even if it's—

"You are proud of your skill, even if you do not enjoy killing. I see no difficulty with this."

Gai-sensei walks over to the studded tree, and begins pulling out the weapons so that she may start again.

**- x x x x x - **

Something in her mind snaps back into place, and she freezes.

_Oh._

Tenten looks down at the katana in her hand, and knows that in a moment she is going to feel sick.

She isn't going to be actually sick. She's done this enough times to wrestle that guilty, despairing feeling down and tell herself that _there was need for it._

Though, when Tenten looks up and sees the bodies lying around her with eyes that are not fighting-drunk, not with eyes that are hyperaware and filled with unholy glee, with a manic grin and a body filled with the white-hot heat of rage, she thinks— she has never brought down so many before.

There are fifteen dead in a circle about her, five teams in all, and all dead by the blade in her hand.

_There was need for it._

A mission gone awry. There is a proverb that "most battle plans do not survive the initial encounter with the enemy," and it is painfully true. Lee and Neji were to move in first, with Tenten for cover and back-up. Except the ambush Team Gai was planning to spring was instead sprung upon them. They hadn't expected their opponents to attack first.

She can't – or doesn't want to – remember exactly what happened. There was a trap – catching Neji and Lee, but not her, because she was farther back. A strange, gooey, suffocating, chakra-resistant gel that prevented Lee from moving and made Neji's _jyuuken_ useless. That their enemies had pooled their chakra together, so the only way for her to set her teammates free was to kill them all – except, as the enemy leader taunted, that was impossible. How could a single girl face these odds and win? She might as well surrender – see, her teammates had already stopped moving in suffocation…

Something had snapped inside her then.

She burst from the trees with a sudden barrage of weaponry and explosives, and three bodies already had fallen – she charged forward, screaming, with katana drawn…

Then, there was only _target_ and _response_ and the terrible, terrible joy of _killing_.

Only when the sound of the last body falling reaches Tenten's ears does she return to sanity.

Lee stumbles over to her, sloppy bits of gel falling off him as he unexpectedly sweeps her into a massive hug. Tenten is still frozen rigid as her mind runs around in circles, _I did this I did this I did this._ Neji pries open her hand still gripping the katana until she finally lets go. Neji clasps her shoulder.

"It's over," he says. _We're safe._

She breaks down and clutches both Neji and Lee, bawling like a little child.

_They're safe._

**x x x x x**

_Gai-sensei hands her back the first kunai from her weapon-mosaic._

_"Better that you should be proud of your skill. When need drives, you cannot hold back."_


	4. Passing On

_Summary: _There is someone Tenten needs to protect._  
A/N:_ This was actually originally posted on my LJ. I came back across it and thought, 'You know, this actually fits the _Promises_ series…'

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**Passing On**

_"How do you do it?"_

_He smiles at her._

_"I remember who I have to protect. My comrades, Konoha…and you." _

**x x x x x **

Uzuki Yuugao pauses at her work, looking up at the young girl before her. The girl has come in petition, wanting to learn how to execute the A-ranked sword jutsu that Hayate had passed onto Yuugao. Gekkou Hayate had been the best at _Crescent Moon_, and with his passing, Uzuki Yuugao in turn.

The technique is not a secret. There are several other people who could tutor this girl in the jutsu. But Yuugao is the best, and so it is understandable that this girl has sought her out, though rank and age separates them. A chuunin and an ANBU do not cross paths often.

Her eyes flicker to Hayate's katana hanging on her wall.

"Why do you want to?"

The answer Yuugao is waiting for is the same one she was given, long ago.

The girl tightens her hands slightly.

"There is someone I need to protect."


	5. Lady In Red

_Summary:_ Tenten wears white as a _warning_. **  
**_A/N:_ I came across this interesting bit of Chinese myth. It only took me about a year to write this, on and off. XD

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**Lady in Red**

When Tenten had changed her usual outfit of a pink tank-top and dark green pants to a longer, white three-quarter sleeved shirt and looser, dark red pants, some people were puzzled with the color choice. The red they could understand – it would help mask the color of dried blood - but the white they continually questioned. Usually Tenten could thwart off most people by saying it was her favorite color (and it was), but there were some people that just would not stop.

_Why choose a color that would make Tenten such an easy target?_

It isn't, she tiredly protests. Many of her attacks are aerial, and the white helps camouflage her against the sky. Similar to the white bellies of high-flying falcons and eagles, the white masks her as one of the clouds, far above.

_But why choose a color so hard to clean?_

It actually isn't, Tenten explains again and again. The red trim comes easily off, and the gold snaps as well. Then she can just bleach the hell out of it. With all the training and missions and abuse Tenten puts herself and her clothes through, the cloth will wear out _far_ before the bleach damages it. The red trim isn't that hard to sew back on later; a needle is also a weapon, and she is a weapons mistress.

_It's against regulation._

Like _that_ made any sense. The prospective-hokage wore bright orange jumpsuits, one of her teammates chose green spandex, and the Hyuuga on her team wore even more white than _she_ did, so why were they harping on _her?_ Are they being sexist, thinking a kunoichi should be wearing something _sensible_ – heavens above, _she_ wore one of the most practical outfits to _fight_ in (loose for freedom of movement, lots of room to hide weapons), and they wanted to argue about _color? _Where's her battle ax...

The questioning usually ends about there. Tenten's happy with that.

She doesn't ever tell anyone the real reason, though her teammates suspect. They should, because it is for them that Tenten wears white.

The real reason is because Tenten knows she will be the last one standing.

It's not a happy thought.

Gai will be first. He is their sensei, their master, and to him it would be the greatest thing in the world and the greatest sacrifice to protect his precious students, to ensure they will live in their springtime of youth and pass it on, and to go out in a blaze of glory.

He never wanted to grow old anyway.

Lee and Neji will be next. Lee has the most idiotic, stupidest chivalrous streak _ever_, and Neji – well, Neji's usually almost the complete opposite to Lee, but this is one thing the two of them will agree on. They _will_ protect her when the time comes, and they _will_ put in every bead of sweat and give up every drop of blood to ensure that she will stay _alive_.

And no matter how much she rails against them, how many times she bashes Lee on the head and tries her damnest to skewer Neji to bits, they absolutely refuse to stop (dammit, she _hates_ this) protecting her, even though they know very well she doesn't need it. They do it anyway.

In this, they are absolute.

_And what,_ she wails and seethes inside, _will I do when you're all_ _**gone?**_

She doesn't ask, and so her teammates needn't answer.

Maybe her teammates know very well what she will do when they are gone.

She will be a lady in red.

Blood-red. _Theirs._ Theirs, and hers, drenching her formerly white clothes into glistening crimson. To dry later into murky dark-brown-_red,_ and it will be her color and calling sign; a sign of vengeance.

Legends say that a women who dies in red can return as a white ghost to haunt the ones that wronged her.

The _nu gui._

Tenten wears white as a _warning_.

When that time comes, when she is the last one alive, when at last the enemy turns their blades on _her_ while her teammates' lifeless bodies cover her and her heart, Tenten will have one more weapon.

For if you dare to touch her boys – if you _dare_ take them away from her – if you stain her with _their blood__—_

If her enemies dare to make her teammates' sacrifice in vain, she will become a _nu gui,_ sworn to bring retribution. And this time, nothing in the world will be able to stop her. Not even death.

Tenten _will_ have her vengeance, in this life or the next.


End file.
